


Reunion

by cheddarbug



Series: How the Mighty Fall [8]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M, Hate to Love, Reunion Sex, Shameless Smut, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 07:56:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12883464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheddarbug/pseuds/cheddarbug
Summary: "Fuck doing the right thing!"Nero quite agreed.





	Reunion

It had been months since Carine had set foot back on Gridanian soil. She closed her eyes and lifted her face to bask in the little sunlight that filtered through the leaves of the tall, tall trees with a happy and contented sigh. 

It was good to be back.

Doma had been a beautiful place, despite the war torn land and the downtrodden citizens that they had encountered upon arrival, but beautiful nonetheless. From the bustling trade center that was Kugane with its tall, eastern style architecture, to the expanse of the Ruby Sea (which had been such a pleasure to fly over, she recalled) and from the forests of Yanxia where the One River flowed, to the vast plains of the Azim Steppe, Carine Monteil had no end of wondrous sights to behold while there. 

For months she stayed in those lands, working to convince the people to take up their arms and fight against their common enemy. They had not been well received, however, and more often told to leave immediately. The people of Doma looked and seemed to feel just as Carine herself did, worn and weary and fearful of what the Empire was capable of. They had no fight left in them, they had no hope.

And for the first time since becoming the Warrior of Light, Carine did not inspire that within them. 

Not that she expected to. How could one inspire a group of people when they had no hope or desire to fight themselves? How could she have expected them to take up arms with her legend if she didn’t represent what the Warrior of Light should have been? Alphinaud and Alisaie tried to bolster her up, reminding her of all her accomplishments, but it was no use. Since Haurchefant had died and his death had been avenged, since Minfilia had been taken by Hydaelyn for whatever purposes the Mother Crystal had, since Papalymo had sacrificed himself in vain in an attempt to contain the beast that they came to know as Shinryu, the Warrior of Light found there wasn’t much left worth fighting for if all that she did would be answered with pain and loss and regret.

This didn’t even account for her dying hope that Nero would be waiting for her when she arrived home. Of course, it was that small sliver of anticipation that she clung to, that desire to tell him the words she now knew he needed to hear (even if he didn’t want to), that kept her forging ahead and attempting to show these people of the East that there was still  _ something _ within her that had some fight. 

Then she met Lord Hien and witnessed how this single man brought together the people of Doma and lead them into battle as one against the forces of the Empire. She was able to witness these oppressed people find a reason to fight for him, a reason to gather what meager weapons they had and charge against the Imperials with the ferocity knowing they had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Seeing this happen before her eyes, seeing it happen for someone else, lit the flame of hope Carine had within her that had burned out since Haurchefant had left her. Even though they had lost Gosetsu in the midst of everything, she didn’t find herself losing hope anymore, but every reason to  _ keep _ hoping. For if these people who had lost so much more than Carine had and manage to find a reason to fight, surely she could find a reason to as well. 

She  _ felt _ like the Warrior of Light again, that beacon of hope that Haurchefant had always said she was. And it felt  _ good _ .

Carine decided upon her arrival home that she would take a couple of days before heading back to Rhalgr’s Reach. Though the ship ride from Doma to Limsa Lominsa had been long enough for her to rest without worry, nothing quite compared to sleeping in one’s own bed in their own home rather than a musty cot in a corner. If only walking into her home had felt more like she was being welcomed rather than being condemned. 

The lights were off, which she supposed she should have expected. The Elezen had tried not to let her imagination of what would be waiting for her run wild, but she couldn’t deny that she had rather liked the idea that Nero would have just stayed there as he always had, waiting for her in his shop in the basement. 

Of course, the moment she hit the bottom of the stairs she knew that he was gone. The door to his shop had been left ajar and not a single piece of magitek was left behind. He had certainly listened to her when she told him that he needed to be gone. Still, there seemed to be a parchment tacked to the wall against where his workbench had been. Swallowing hard, Carine took it in her hands.

_ There’s nothing more to say. _

She clutched the note with his elegant handwriting upon it to her chest as her heart broke into a thousand pieces. It was too late to tell him. Nero was gone and there was no hope at him coming back. Her grief washed over her, wave after wave, as she made her way back upstairs, pulling  _ his _ shirt from her pack along the way. Once she was stripped of her clothes, she pulled it over her head in an attempt at comfort, but it no longer smelled of him. 

She fell into her bed, snuggling under the sheets that were in need of refreshing after months of sitting, and wept.

**\---------------**

Time passed quickly for the Warrior of Light after her return to Eorzea. She dedicated herself to aiding the Resistance of Ala Mhigo, fighting alongside the people with the common goal of driving Zenos yae Galvus from their land. It was not an easy fight as the Garleans had bolstered their forces against the rebellion, making progress hard and slow for the Warrior of Light. Battle after battle was fought until they had finally reached Ala Mhigo itself, the very place where the Imperial Viceroy waited for her. 

Where Zenos was waiting to face her one last time.

Carine had learned to fear him after her first defeat against the man that was a monster. How easily he had worked her across the battlefield, wearing down her strength and stamina before cutting her down where she stood and granting the bard her first brush with death. She had fought him again on Doman soil with that fear still haunting her, though by then she knew her place in this war, her part to play, and she fought with everything she had. She had still admitted defeat to the prince, but the bard had managed to break through his armor this time. She had made him bleed.

That meant he could die.

The Warrior of Light traveled through the camp on the eve of their final strike against Zenos, taking her time to talk and assure the soldiers of their win tomorrow. She reminded them it would be a tough battle, but she would do all she could to win them back their homeland, no matter the cost, and that seemed to ease their troubled spirits. Carine made sure to speak with their leaders, going over battle plans and having them remind her of their positions on the battlefield. She even made sure to have some tea with Aymeric who, true to his word, had ever remained the steadfast friend to her. 

The bard always found it difficult to sleep before battle, her anxiety and anticipation of what was to come always chasing that bliss away, so she walked on with her boots scuffing the dirt as she made her way to her tent just on the outskirts. At the Scions’ behest, she hadn’t erected her temporary sleeping quarters  _ too _ far from theirs. She could still hear them walking from tent to tent or discussing battle plans from where she sat, but it was just far enough that she could come and go as she pleased without anyone being none the wiser.

The moon was shining brightly in the sky with countless stars hanging overhead by the time she opened the flap to her tent. For a brief moment she wondered if she would be looking upon this same sky tomorrow night, or if her title and role as the Warrior of Light would finally come to an end. She said a silent prayer to Halone and to Hydaelyn to grant her the strength and skill for the upcoming battle, that it would at least be enough to free these people from their oppression and give them the courage to continue fighting on, no matter her outcome, before entering the mostly barren shelter. She had a small chest with her best armor waiting to be adorned in one corner, a small table and chair so she could write missives to anyone she felt the need to (even if practically everyone she cared for were here in this very camp preparing for the very same battle) in the other, and a cot at the far end.

A cot that  _ wasn’t _ empty.

“I thought I told you  _ not _ to face Zenos head on in battle? Do you look for reasons to disobey my orders, or does this just come so naturally to you?” Nero tol Scaeva said, his fingers pointed towards his lips as his silvery blue eyes stared at her in the darkness. Carine’s heart stopped dead within her chest, her breath held lest she release it and find this only be a figment of her imagination from the stress and anticipation of tomorrow. 

The Garlean stood to his full height and approached her with an unreadable expression upon his handsome features, leaving her at a complete loss for words until they were face to face. “Well,  _ Warrior _ , which is it?”

Carine snapped out of her trance, blinking her eyes rapidly and taking a cautious step backwards. She didn’t know why he was here now of all times, but she couldn’t help but feel the intense relief that washed over her at the sight of him. He still looked as magnificent as the day he walked away with his golden hair slicked back and that single curl that fell over his third eye. He was even still dressed in the same extravagant wear that no Eorzean would ever find fashionable, but somehow he made it look good.

“You came,” she said breathlessly, standing firm where she was. She wanted to run into his arms, take in his scent and know that he was  _ really there, _ but she worried that such an action would invoke a response that would potentially crush her. So she tread carefully.

“Only to tell you that you are going to die tomorrow. To remind you how foolish you are to throw everything you ever worked for, all that you have ever built, on some notion that you can defeat the evil that is that man,” he scowled, also making no move to approach her. 

“H-how did you get into my tent? How did you even make it through the camp without anyone seeing you?” she asked. How she longed to reach for him, to touch and feel him. He was so close...

“You are utterly predictable now that I know and understand you. And you  _ are _ talking to the man that managed to uncover Omega’s resting place despite legions of Imperial scouts scouring the land,” he scoffed. “I don’t know whether to be offended or surprised at your bewilderment.”

Carine moved toward the desk. She needed some form of support as she looked at the man that she had missed for so long. She had to be careful, calculating. She needed to understand his motivations in hopes that she could convince him to stay and talk. “So why are you here, Nero? I don’t see you coming and lending your skills towards our cause.”

He watched her as she leaned against the small table, his eyes raking up her body until they fell upon the glittering lilac gems staring back at him. He graced her with a half-smile, taking his spot at the bed where he had been waiting for her originally and pulling out his shirt from under the thin blanket. “I believe this is mine. I must say, I never thought the Warrior of Light capable of  _ stealing. _ I always thought that beneath her,” he told the woman. He could smell her on it, telling him that she always kept it close.  _ How touching, _ he thought.

“That’s a long way to travel for such a gaudy bit of cloth,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “And I have never claimed to be a saint. Besides,” she added, gaining her courage and advancing on him until she came to a stop between his knees. “You took something of mine. It was only fair I return the favor.”

Nero’s eyed her curiously, his brow furrowed in confusion while he regarded her carefully. “I did no such thing. I left everything in  _ your _ house as  _ you _ left it, save for  _ my _ things,” he replied with a frown. 

“No. You took a part of me that I cannot get back. So I want to keep  _ your _ shirt as collateral for you taking  _ my _ heart when you left,” she snapped, ripping the soft red material from his hands and clutching it to her chest. It was childish, and perhaps among the most melodramatic things to come from her mouth, but it was out there now. She could always smack herself in the face later.

The Garlean peered up at her from his sitting position, a cruel smile playing at his lips as he spoke, “If you think this will make me sentimental, let me assure you that it will not. I only came to bid you a final farewell before I try and find a way to leave this repugnant country that will surely feel the full weight of the Empire once you are gone.”

“You don’t know that Zenos will kill me. I’ve become stronger. I found my reason to fight again,” she told him, her fingers itching to caress his face. 

“And tell me,  _ Warrior _ , what reason is that?” he asked her, his eyes burning into her own. 

“Aside from the obvious of helping those who are unable to help themselves,” she began, leaning down so that they were face to face. “Because I love you.”

Nothing could have prepared Carine for the pure, unadulterated rage that consumed Nero as he stood so quickly she had no time to react. His long, strong fingers wrapped tightly around her throat, cutting off her air as he pushed her backwards, slamming her lower back into the desk she had been leaning on earlier. Her hands flew to where he was grasping her in instinct, but she made no move to stop him as he leaned in close. “Do  _ not _ say that!”

He held her there, his fingers bruising the delicate skin at her neck, but she would not yield. “I love you,” she gasped again, using the last of her air to confess. 

Nero released her, leaving her to fall to the floor and desperately suck in the air that he had stolen from her. His hands raked through his hair, the anger boiling uncontrolled beneath the surface. “I said do not say that.”

“But it’s true,” she choked, rubbing her throat and wincing. She never really considered that he would try and hurt her, though if she were honest, he probably hadn’t really tried either. “I love you.”

She watched him as he paced through the tent. Thankfully she had landed between him and the only exit, so if he tried to escape on her again she would block him. Of course, if he truly wanted to leave, if he truly were over her or against loving her in return, she wouldn’t stop him even if it pained her to watch him go. 

“If you think that you have the ability to change the man I am-” he growled, kneeling to her where she sat.

“Who said I wanted to change you, Nero? I love all that you are as you are. I couldn’t change you if I tried,” she interrupted. His eyes flashed with so many emotions at once that Carine found herself dizzy while looking into them. 

And then his lips were crushing into hers, all of those emotions coming out in the only way he knew how to express them. His fingers gripped her long, silver hair that so complimented his gold, holding her firmly in place so that he could claim her mouth as much as he so chose. She whimpered against him, driving him to give her more and  _ more _ as he begged for her lips to part. How she yielded to him, slicking her tongue against his, bringing a desperate moan from his throat as the taste of her consumed him.

Just like that, she decimated his defenses, crashing through his walls and bringing him to crush this irritating woman to his chest. She reacted to him, her body coming alive as her hands threaded through his hair, pulling him close,  _ closer _ because he wasn’t close enough. He knew he shouldn’t give in to the temptation, he knew that he shouldn’t succumb to her desires, not when she was possibly going to face her death on the morrow, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed her, needed to feel her skin against his, needed to try and convince her to run away with him and fight this battle another day.

Carine scrambled to unbutton his shirt, fingers fumbling as she resigned to ripping the fabric that was in her way while he went about tugging at her breeches. She kicked off one boot while he ripped at her clothes that kept him from touching and caressing her beautiful, scar-torn skin.

“You don’t really want this,” he growled against her, a half-hearted attempt to get her to reconsider.

“No. I need this. I need  _ you. _ In me. Now,” she ordered against his lips, lifting herself so that he could pull down her breeches. She managed to free one leg from their confines, but realized that she had forgotten about the other boot. It was too late now, she wasn’t going to break the momentum.

“I left.”

“You came back.”

“What can I say? I’m a selfish bastard who couldn’t stay away after trying to do the right thing,” he smirked against her lips, his hands giving up on the tattered shirt that refused to leave her body in favor of removing his pants. 

“Fuck doing the right thing,” was her reply.

Nero quite agreed.

Once he had freed himself of his trousers, one ankle still claimed by the garment, his fingers slid up her parted legs to the apex of her thighs, bringing on a groan as her desire coated them. “Ready as always, I see,” he grinned against her, biting into her flesh as he thrust one, and then two long fingers into her quivering depths right there on the dirt floor of her tent. Carine gasped, her back arching off the ground while he swirled his thumb over her center, preparing her for more.

“Nero please!” she begged against him, her need overruling her sense as she no longer cared that the Scions could very well hear her if they took the notion to. Thankfully she didn’t have to urge him on as he removed his fingers to fit the head of his cock where they had just been. He sat back on his heels, lifting her with his incredible strength as he helped her sink slowly onto his length. 

“I love you,” she whispered as her eyes locked onto his. Those words, so simple as they were, somehow sent bolts of lightning through his body as he allowed her to nestle onto him. She didn’t expect him to say it back, she probably already knew that he wouldn’t, but it didn’t stop her from repeating those words as a prayer as he slowly and deliberately fucked into her. The only solace he found against that cursed praise was to kiss it from her lips, claiming her mouth as he gently lowered her back to the floor. 

Silver hair fanned around her angular face, her large lilac eyes closing in the faint light of the full moon as he took her there. He wanted this to last, wanted her to know that she was  _ his,  _ wanted her to have every reason to walk away with him tonight, to save herself for  _ him.  _ It was selfish and foolish and ultimately something he knew deep within she wasn’t capable of, but he could lie to himself, making himself believe that she would run away with him to live to see the morrow. 

Carine’s boot-clad foot dug into his lower back, urging him to take her higher, encouraging him to fuck her deeper while her nails dug into his shoulders. She didn’t even care if the Scions heard her cries of pleasure, though Nero certainly didn’t want  _ any _ interruptions. His large hand closed over her mouth, his lips at her pointed ear, hushing her as he deepened his thrusts. Those beautiful eyes of her rolled back in her head, her teeth biting into the flesh of his palm as surely as her boot bit into his back.

Too long, it had been too long since last he held her, since last he felt her wrapped around him. He was getting too close, far too close to cresting his own peak of pleasure as she writhed beneath him. He pulled away from her, covering her mouth at her rather loud complaint, pulling her towards the bed. Nero wanted to see her as she came apart for him, but not at the expense that her  _ friends _ might come running to see what in seven hells she was  _ doing _ , so he unceremoniously pressed her face into her pillow and leaned over her body.

“Please, oh please,” she whispered, turning her face just enough so that he could easily nip at the tip of her ear. 

“Run away with me,” he asked her, his fingers tracing slow patterns against her center, making her quiver and convulse under his expert touch. 

“I can’t.”

“Stay with me,” he bit her shoulder, unsure of exactly what he meant by that statement. For all his intentions, he wanted it to mean that she would come with him, but she took it another way.

“I’m yours.”

How could such simple words create such a powerful reaction within him? His chest felt as though it were nearly ready to burst, red hot emotion burning at his eyes as he continued to bring her higher with his painstakingly slow caress. He kissed her shoulder where he had bitten her, and kissed down her back, words failing him. She wouldn’t run away with him, she wouldn’t save herself for him, but she said she was  _ his. _

Seven hells, what was she  _ doing _ to him?

Carine wriggled against him, begging him for what she needed, and he was more than willing to comply as he thrust hard into her. He wasn’t ready to admit his feelings towards her, what her words and her confession made him  _ feel _ , so he most certainly wasn’t ready to make love to this woman that held him in the palm of her hand. Carine didn’t seem to care a whit either as she arched her back to grant him better access, burying her face in the pillow as her pleasure finally peaked. He wasn’t far behind her, his Warrior’s name on his lips while he dragged them down her back. 

They lay there in the darkness, their bodies a mess of tangled limbs and hair and sweat as they pressed closely to one another in silence. Carine kissed every ounce of exposed skin that was in immediate reach of her wanting lips, and Nero found himself letting her get her fill. He wanted to beg her to reconsider, but he knew she would choose the path of Light over her own selfish desires every time. She irritated him as much as she made him proud,  _ his _ Warrior of Light, though it didn’t stop the consuming fear of what she would face tomorrow. 

The Scions of the Seventh Dawn may see her as some immortal, unbreakable weapon to use against whatever foe they set their sights upon, but Nero had seen just how breakable she was firsthand, just how close she crept to the edge and stared into the abyss. The thought of her going there again, or being forced to take that leap, it  _ hurt _ him and made him want to steal her away and keep her safe. 

His most precious possession.

And he had to share her with the world. 

“I love you, Nero,” she sighed contentedly by his side. 

“I know.”

“I promise I’ll come back to you.”

“Don’t make promises I know you can’t keep,” he growled, though through pain rather than anger. The thought that this would be his last time holding her, his last time touching and stroking her skin...it was almost too much for him to bear.

“Stay with me tonight?” she asked him, her fingers slightly digging into her skin and showing him the slightest trace of fear that he knew was buried beneath her need to comfort him. “At least until I fall asleep?”

He turned to her there, tilting her chin and kissed her with all of the feeling he could endure to send, hoping it would be enough to know how he felt without saying those blasted words that clung to the tip of his tongue. “If you insist,” he replied. She smiled lazily at him, snuggling into his side and burying her face into his chest before sleep claimed her. 

Nero wished that he believed in the Twelve enough to ask them to lend her all their strength, to protect this intoxicating and annoying woman that somehow found a way to love  _ him _ of all people. As it were, he had seen her skill, bore witness to her determination and might, and had watched her grow ever stronger. 

If she were going to win against that bastard who dared to face her tomorrow, it would be off her ability alone, not the help of some goddess that thought to choose her and bestow this blasted blessing that threw her into this world of chaos, even if he recognized that blessing as what allowed him to meet her in the first place. 

It was both the worst and the best thing to have ever happened in his life, he thought to himself as he pulled her body closer. And surprisingly, he had no urge or desire to change that.

**Author's Note:**

> Alas...it seems I am nearly finished with this smutty arc D: One chapter left to go :(
> 
> But if you are interested in something a bit slower, a lot fluffier, and still just as smutty, I do plan on writing Carine's relationship arc with Haurchefant next ^^


End file.
